Portland Roadster Show

I'd been looking forward to the 

Portland Roadster Show for months.

It was on the list of positives 

when deciding to try this PDX gig,

especially since it was in walking distance from the racetrack.

Actually it was more like skating distance,

I parked near work,

to save on the $8 parking fee...

One thing I immediately noticed when flying up for the work interviews,

was a cheap airport burger in San Diego/San Francisco

will run about $13.

Airport burgers in Portland are about $4.95,

and that's with bacon.

That was another thing I added to the positive list.

Well that ratio is like the GNRS 

(grand national roadster show),

which holds about 11 buildings inside and out,

of 90% damn fine hot rods,

to the indoor only PRS,

which held 3 buildings of car enthusiast ware,

about 3/5 deserved to be there.

Maybe I was sour cause the truck theft

made me decide to not show Chief,

cause I didn't know if I'd need it as a daily still.

Or maybe since the Perich's use our hot rods as work trucks and actual vehicles,

I'm not enthusiastic about a polished turd,

or a beginning welders rat rod experiment.

There was a lot of that there...too much.

Guess it's a by-product of long rainy winters.

Ok soften up already...

There were more cool cars than my phone memory allowed,

and there's a dedicated hot rod community up here.

I dug how this '40 had a stinkbug stance,

even with the torched spring.

What this "roadster show" needed,

was more roadsters.

More than 5 or 6 anyway.

This one was tops.

Mebbe next year!

TP

princess bricknose

Weekends up here are tricky.

After a 5-day 7-330 work week,

it's great to sleep in and just lay around.

Which basically gets me in trouble,

as I'll search Craigslist and Ebay a bit too thoroughly.

Get me a project!

One weekend goal was to fix some electrical gremlins in the new truck,

hopefully caused by the overzealous use of crappy wiring techniques.

I'll admit,

I wired our old 30 coupe with all black wires.

It looked cool but the next owner hated me!

This guy used yellow and red for both positive and negative/ground.

Ok let me clarify that...

He ran two yellow wires as +/- for the fog lights,

and two red wires for +/- for the running board lights.

After an hour this 100' wire pile was tediously extracted.

Perfect cause I needed speaker wire for the new shop sound system.

Free thumpin' Craigslist speakers!

Still didn't fix the windshield wiper glitch...

Another small annoyance was the running boards.

They were held on with sheetmetal screws,

swinging back and forth when I'd chip ice off the windshield.

It was like slack-lining.

Good times.

Not sure why the guy who bought them would want them but...

It allowed me to get this big ole box of mostly air.

For a grand total of $24,

an eBay guy shipped me just what I needed,

in a box the size of an upright piano.

A cheesy stock plastic grille insert,

at least I can easily reach the hidden hood latch.

By the way,

the '87-91 years are called bricknose,

the earlier models are called bullnose.

The chrome version was 3x the $$.

Yea the silver paint clashes with all this shine...

You'd be surprised how flimsy that guard and bumper are.

It's definitely a princess.

One search is for plain steel wheels,

or aluminum with the round holes,

although it won't look as fast when parked.

Yea fun stuff...

Jaxon sent up the fog lights,

and one made it safely.

Shipping glass sucks!

It'll probably be a cyclops a long time.

TP

Princess - 1989 Ford F-150

Using the hot rod for a daily driver was a blast,

until heavy rains were predicted.

Craigslist hunting took precedence during any free time.

After weeding through dozens of sub-$1000 ads,

this jewel popped up.

A 2wd 1989 Ford F-150 long bed 

with a 300 6-cylinder and manual transmission,

hand crank windows and locks...

just what I needed.

While there were many cars,

having a hauler that can help with the future move seemed like a better tool.

I'd have loved to get another van,

but they're a premium up here,

either to keep stuff dry or as sleeping rigs,

I'm not sure.

A work friend drove me down 20 miles.

The truck looked and ran great!

Sold!

There had been some recent repairs,

starter solenoid, battery... starter, clutch,

as well as some shady wiring mods.

I didn't ask why,

but about 18.75 miles into the 20 mile drive back,

I found out!

At the time it was 7:20pm,

raining... dark,

and I was ready to call it a day.

So was the truck,

as it died as soon as we reached our exit.

Holey Chit!

Too heavy to push,

I was barely off the freeway on the side of the road.

Poop rocks!!

I called the old owner,

and he basically had fixed the same problem,

without ever testing the charging system.

Most likely the alternator was bad.

Ayayay...

The walk to my temporary home wasn't too bad,

but by the time I rode back on the bike with the voltmeter,

a tow truck and emergency vehicle had already arrived!

Holey double chit!!

Fortunately the guy was super nice,

and pushed me up the hill,

to guess where?

Within 60 feet from where the Mazda was snagged!!

Holey triple chit!!!

The spot,

the neon,

the situation,

it was a surreal experience,

especially after blowing my wad on a busted vehicle.

I rode the bike back and got the spare battery

that I had been jumping the hot rod with.

Oh did I mention that part?

The rains had wreaked havoc in the 6-volt system,

so I jumped it with a 12-volt spare from the van,

all week long...

Voila!

The fresh battery got me to my bed,

and actually got me back and forth to work a few times,

til the weekend when the alternator was replaced.

So here it is in all its chromed trucker girl glory.

I swear the previous-previous owner

musta had the cheesy chrome catalog wish list.

For a work truck,

the bumpers are so flimsy and thin.

I hope this isn't how Ford made them,

definitely wouldn't tow the hot rod with these.

I've always wanted to rock 

the chrome girl license plate holder,

truely complete now.

I'll be calling this one princess...

The interior has the must have "Hang 10" pedal kit,

complete with the little brights switch mini foot.

Thankfully the radio works!

First car in 15 + years with non-stock tuneage.

The sides are graced with the weakest running boards,

they're barely bolted on,

and the bracketry is Home Depot after thought.

There's actually a string of lights on the side too.

Classy!!

Interestingly enough there's a magnaflow muffler 

and catalytic converter,

although it sounds stock,

at least I won't be hose clamping aluminum cans

 on any rust holes.

The directional wheels...

Oh yea...

It didn't take long to realize I'm a van guy,

trained to drive around with precious junk at all times,

however with a truck there's no hiding it.

Tough to park and go to the store.

Camouflaging with rags will only work so long.

A chance Craigslist score procured a perfectly fitting camper shell,

or as Oregoners say it "canopy".

I've got to admit every Craigslist deal has followed with a chat fest.

People here are so nice and interesting.

This was found in the Washington town of Battleground,

and picking it up was the perfect excuse to visit the area.

Thanks Corey!!

And lastly check this out,

an actual tree growing in the windshield.

It is so tough to grow tree seeds,

and here they grow on a car,

in 55 mph wind.

I transplanted it to get later when we move.

Hopefully this one sticks around...

TP

Big 3 parts exchange and more!

I'd been preparing for the Big 3 parts exchange for months.

Ok more like mentally preparing.

If this PDX thing seemed to work out,

then the February swap meet was gonna be the parts purge.

In typical form,

physical preparation started when I flew in Friday,

thrashing to get to the spot that night.

We did exceptionally well,

so much so we filled the van up a second time Saturday night.

The rule this year was not leaving the stall.

Instead of scrounging the stadium lot for goodies,

Jaxon and I focused on giving junk to new owners.

It worked!

At the end the garage was still full.

Remember we had emptied the shop the week before,

and sorting keepers and ditchers took a lot of space.

In hindsight with one more day,

we could have gotten rid of so much more.

The marginal keeper chit was better than the majority of junk other swappers had brought. 

Of course it rained all day Monday,

the cleanup day.

Even the dogs didn't want to be outside.

One thing that didn't sell was this rearend,

we spent an hour dismantling it.

I told the kids never to use the torch in rain gear...

This ended up having the best '36 radius rods,

and the shiniest torque tube I've ever seen.

Perfect parts for the cradle robber.

The kids kicked but,

the rain was a non-issue.

They're ready for wet Portland!!

The hoods are hiding their smiling faces...

The flurry of the weekend didn't last long,

and not enough time was spent just hanging out with the wife,

but we really accomplished a ton,

and I could pay off the credit cards a bit.

Or so I thought!

As ya may know the Mazda beater had disappeared.

Definite bummer to walk up to an empty spot.

Fortunately the old hot rod took charge.

Actually it wasn't charged,

the rain had wreaked havoc on the 6-volt system.

Even with a reserve battery it wouldn't start.

Fortunately I had a spare 12-volt to jump it...

This lasted all week!!

No biggie it ran great.

(How to charge 6's with a 12 volt charger!)

After 8-9 years I can't believe these optima batteries are still functioning!

I'm gonna be in trouble when they die,

as the battery box is designed specifically for their flatness.

With no rain for that first week,

the roadster was the perfect daily driver,

however with long rainy days in the forecast,

Marathon craigslist hunting paid off,

as this jewel was scooped up for the exact amount of junk we had given up.

Nothin like exchanging parts for parts!

The credit cards will have to wait.

TP